Wednesday, January 17, 2007

Anatomy of hate

Wow, I feel compelled to write about war of words between the “Grey’s Anatomy” stars. T.R. Knight was on Ellen today and opened up about the whole ugly affair. He confirmed reports that costar Isaiah Washington called him a “faggot” on set.

A short recap: In October, Washington and Patrick Dempsey got in a fight where Washington hurled the slur at Knight. This forced Knight, who was not out, to tell People magazine he was gay. Things settled down until Washington brought it back up at the Golden Globes telling reporters “I did not call T.R. a faggot. Never happened, never happened.” Costar Katherine Heigl then sprung to Knight’s defense, saying, “I’m going to be really honest right now: (Washington) needs to just not speak in public. Period. I’m sorry, that did not need to be said, I’m not OK with it.” She went on to say, “T.R. is my best friend. I will throw down for that kid. I will beat you up. I will use every ounce of energy I have to take you down if you hurt his feelings.”

Two thoughts: 1) How awesome is Katherine Heigl? And 2) How much does Isaiah Washington need to get fired?

My final thought: How amazing is it to watch two gay stars talk frankly about their sexuality and the prejudice they face on a popular, nationally-syndicated show? And not the kind of show where people get up and start throwing chairs at one another.

UPDATE: Whew, a lot has happened since Washington’s f-bomb at the Globes. First, on Wednesday GLAAD issued a statement condemning his actions. Then, on Thursday, both ABC and Washington released apologies for the incident. Is it enough? Will people just please stop calling each other hateful names? Please.